Save The Phil support can be displayed

Jul. 14, 2013

This 'Save the Phil!' button costs $2.95 on Zazzle.com. / Zazzle.com

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savethephil.com

Buy “Save the Phil” merchandise online. T-shirts are $24.95-28.95. Bumper stickers are $3.95, and buttons are $2.95. Hats are $22.95.

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The Save The Phil folks are taking their anti-Artis campaign to new territory: Your head, your chest and your car bumper.

The Save the Phil campaign started with an online petition two months ago after The Philharmonic Center for the Arts changed its name to Artis–Naples. The petition campaign has gathered more than 13,000 signatures.

Now organizers have started selling “Save the Phil!” hats, buttons, T-shirts and bumper stickers online. The idea is to keep the message in the public eye and show Artis–Naples leaders just how many hate the new name, said co-organizer Peter Thomas.

“There’s been an unbelievable outpouring of emotion,” said Thomas, a nationally known voiceover artist who narrated a fundraising video for the center before it opened in 1989. “Everybody wants to save The Phil.”

The war veteran found that out when he held up a “Save the Phil!” bumper sticker from his WWII Jeep during Naples’ annual Independence Day parade.

“The reaction I got from the crowd was unbelievable,” Thomas said. “They were giving thumbs up and saying ‘Go for it!’ They were cheering. It was great!”

Artis-Naples leaders re-branded the arts complex in April to attract newer and younger customers and lose the word “philharmonic.” CEO Kathleen van Bergen said the word caused some to associate The Phil with The Naples Philharmonic Orchestra more than its art exhibits, musicals and national touring acts.

Opponents say the name change is confusing, clunky and unnecessary, and it minimizes the center's long history. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” Thomas said.

Van Bergen was unavailable for comment. Center spokeswoman Mary Deissler said she and other leaders wouldn’t comment on the merchandise.

The merchandise is available through the websites Zazzle.com and CustomInk.com. Organizers have sold about 24 items since they became available two weeks ago — mostly bumper stickers and buttons — but co-organizer Craig Lyon noted they haven’t really started advertising yet.

Save The Phil gets 5 percent of sales on each item, Lyon said. The rest goes to the websites. Organizers plan to save that money and donate it to Artis–Naples — but only if leaders change the name back to The Phil. “It would be a ‘thank you’ donation,” Lyon said.

Other than that, the Save the Phil campaign has been laying low over the summer. Lyon said they’re not seeking petition signatures anymore, although several hundred signatures are trickling in every week. “We made our point,” Lyon said.

They plan to do more this fall when Artis–Naples events start happening again and board members get back in town for the scheduled October board meeting (which is closed to the public).

Lyon wouldn’t say much about what other things they’re planning, but one possibility involves finding a benefactor to purchase bumper stickers and other items and distribute them for free or for a low price to the public.

“Things are relatively quiet right now,” Lyon said. “That’s just the way the season goes. But just because it’s quiet, that doesn’t mean it’s over.”